THE RIGHT TO HEALTH IN PRISON: RESULTS OF A NATIONWIDE SURVEY AND REPORT United Nations Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Noncustodial Measures for Women Offenders (the Bangkok Rules) 1. Basic principle [Supplements rule 6 of the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners] Rule 1 In order for the principle of non-discrimination, embodied in rule 6 of the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners to be put into practice, account shall be taken of the distinctive needs of women prisoners in the application of the Rules. Providing for such needs in order to accomplish substantial gender equality shall not be regarded as discriminatory. 4.80 The Bangkok Rules supplement144 the standards of the SMR, as well as the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for Non-custodial Measures (the Tokyo Rules), which afford protection to all prisoners and offenders, respectively. 4.81 In Malaysia, female prisoners make up a small proportion of the prison population. As in most countries, the majority of the prison population are male. Nevertheless, the number of women and girls who have come in contact with the criminal justice system in Malaysia has increased; mostly for drug trafficking. 4.82 As at October 2014, there were a total of 47,958 prisoners in the country, out of which 3,116 were women. 4.83 The Commission notes that prisons for men and those for women operate within the same rules, procedures and policies. However, given that all women’s prisons in Malaysia are required to comply with gender specific standards for working with women prisoners, prison staff are aware of the gender specific issues that affect women prisoners. The Bangkok rules do not replace the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners and the Tokyo Rules. Therefore, all provisions contained in those two sets of rules continue to apply to all prisoners and offenders without discrimination. 144 83